Posts

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I’m calling from your local postcode area …

Ok, this is probably the loft insulation scam. We’ve no idea how they actually scam you, because despite answering the questions in a manner that sounds like we need loft insulation – they’ve hung up on us and not only have we not managed to get anyone to call me back properly, the STD code is rarely local.

I guess the most logical reason behind the scam is that might bill you in advance of any loft insulation being installed, but do they bill you for an agreed amount or max out your credit card? Do they really have loft insulation installers all over the UK?

But one thing you might consider odd, why they say your calling from “your local postcode area” especially when the STD code from the call isn’t local either. It’s obviously a bit of laziness on the part of the pre-recorded voice your hearing. I’ve found asking what is my address and/or postcode is, what the guys name is and what company they are, usually gets rid of them.

The reason I always give is that I live in a flat and the flat above you isn’t the top floor, you can’t use their service, by which time the robot will be telling you “sorry and goodbye” and hang up.

All calls we have had calls on are registered with the Telephone Preference Service.

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I’m calling from your bank/Visa/Mastercard …

If a bank detects fraudulent use of your card, the transaction will be refused. End of story. You might get a text or a call from your bank, but it will be a professional call and likely to happen when your still in a shop where you used the card or if you made the purchase online, you might be contacted in the same manner as being in a shop.

A scam being used at the moment is a terrible robotic voice saying “£600 has been debited from your card, please press 1”

A good way of getting rid of this pest, is saying you have two bank accounts, which bank are you calling from? Even if they have guessed correctly, if something sounds fishy, give your local branch (if you even can get though to them these days) a call or call the number on the back of your card. Even if what appears on your caller display is what is on the back of your card, it could be call spoofing.

There is also a scam where, if someone has called you and they haven’t hung up on you, the line is “open”, they expect you to dial the bank and continue with the charade. Make sure you can hear the genuine dial tone. If you continue to think your still talking with spammers, you could try calling the operator on 100 or the speaking clock on 123, 0800 800 150 will get you through to BT customer services. Calls to 0800 numbers and the operator are free. You could also try calling your bank from a mobile phone.

If a sizeable fraud has been detected and criminals have your bank card information, a legitimate bank would most likely want to have your bank card number deactivated and want a replacement sent to you ASAP.

In my experience when I’m in a large store and have made an expensive payment, I usually get a text and have to reply YES that it’s a genuine purchase. But that’s while I’m in the queue waiting for my card to be accepted.

Also think, have you given your bank your mobile number? or home number. Are they calling you on a number you haven’t even given them?

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IPSOS Mori

Calls made by IPSOS Mori aren’t covered by the Telephone Preference Service, because it’s not marketing. Presumably nothing is being done about the loft insulation scam, because they’re calling to check you have a roof, which around here are largely flats so the calls have been annoying as hell.

Since IPSOS Mori magically seem to call when I’m having my supper, I thought I’d share the phone numbers that I know they use, because I’ve been called by them.

(0131) 301 2940
(0131) 561 4532
(0203) 056 2412
(0208) 863 4433
(0289) 592 2166

You could just let your answering machine answer it, or something you could say is that your ex-directory and registered with the TPS, neither will stop the calls they make, but can make you feel a little bit better.

I have a ring-tone for family members and friends so I know if there’s even the point in taking my phone out of my pocket.

If you have a number which is not listed here, please contact us so we can add it.

We’ve also been told that IPSOS Mori carried out research to see how effective the TPS was … Oh! the irony!

I’ve also read that they could write to you with postal surveys too, if you able to scan the envelope front and back (mainly to see the return address and any logo on the front) we might be able have them returned to sender unopened because people will have seen the envelope here 🙂

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Who Called Me?

Did you miss a call, don’t know the number, not sure if you should call back or not. There’s a great service at https://who-called.co.uk/

However, what we are trying to do here, is list numbers used by companies, Who Called might be able to tell you who called if you enter the phone number that called you.

It’s a really good and worthwhile website.

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Take back control of your phone!

You can help take control of your telephone by registering your number with the telephone preference service (TPS) – this is free. If you have a fax machine you can also register with the fax preference service (FPS) again for free.

You should see a marked decrease in calls in a month. You could also get a caller display so you can see the callers number (or if it’s withheld). Some allow you to store the persons name, so you’ll see their name and number.

If you, like me, can get a caller display telephone with answering machine, you’ll may find that allowing the answering machine to answer will get rid of some cold call marketing callers.

If like me you’ve managed to totally loose your temper, once or twice, I’ve found that:

“WTF do you mean, why do I want to buy (your crappy service/device) WHERE THE HELL IS THE AMBULANCE, HOW MUCH MORE TIME HAVE WE GOT TO WAIT?!”

Hopefully the scammer will disconnect ASAP and you get the chance to vent your frustration on the cold sales caller, but not recommended, if you are calling 999 for a real!

Can you speak another language apart from English?

If you can, speak that language as you answer the phone, I did manage to annoy one Indian call centre worker by speaking in Welsh, eventually they said “this ****hole can’t even speak English” and hung up on me. Again the number of calls decreased even more, so seems logical the sales calls we had been getting were from the same “call centre”

One handy thing if your being plagued by what you think could be a foreign call centre and especially if it’s your mobile, is to consider answering calls in another language, all you need is “Good morning, how are you?” they’ll hang up after you saying that three times LOL

We’ve even answered calls to English numbers in Welsh. After all if they get the time of day wrong, are not going to know which STD codes are in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

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OFTEL

Welcome to Oh! Fudge (my) TELephone

I have decided to start this website because I am sick to death of cold sales callers. Despite being registered with the telephone preference service, I have discovered that a debt collection agency has been calling me around 4 times a day for 6 months and once I finally tell them they have the wrong number, I hang up and get a call from IPSOS MORI with a very difficult to hear guy with a Scottish accent … Arrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

What made matters even worse is that I was woken up this morning by a damn text message which had the wrong first name about getting some sort of damn loan, followed by another. Whenever I’ve signed up for something you get a PIN to verify it is you that has signed up, so WTF did I get texts for someone else? and I had to pay to send the STOP command to them?

I should stress that debt collection agencies are allowed to call you as well as surveys. However, if you have bought a call blocking solution, as I did, you need to know the telephone numbers to enter them to block them. I plan making freedom of information requests and list the numbers, I and perhaps you should be blocking if you just can’t stop a company from calling you.